The night is pitch black, but the interior of the underground cave you’ve stumbled upon is darker yet. As you cautiously creep through the opening, you hear a crunch underfoot. Could it be hundreds of scurrying insects? No, it’s too solid-sounding, and nothing seems to be moving. Is it tree roots? In the beam of a flashlight, the brittle little bits look almost white…

…and that’s when you realize you’re walking over a bed of hundreds, maybe thousands, of bones.

No, you haven’t stepped into the pages of a Stephen King novel, but do be careful: you’re in the lair of an African crested porcupine, and if it’s not happy to see you, you could be in for a very pointed request to leave.

Though they may be small compared to Africa’s best-known predators (crested porcupines rarely get larger than 60 lbs.), the porcupine packs an outsized punch. Covered in long, extremely sharp quills which they will fluff up when threatened (in order to appear larger), porcupines attack backside first, with a flamenco-style foot-stamping as a prelude. These reverse-charges have been known to kill hyenas, leopards, lions, and even humans.

The quills are as intriguing as they are injurious. Soft and white at birth, the quills—which are actually specialized hairs—begin to harden within hours. Many are hollow, allowing the porcupine to swim (and often earning a second life as fishing floats). Some, near the tail, are shaped almost like a bell (with the “handle” attaching to the porcupine’s body). At a young age, the points of these break off, and when the porcupine shakes them, they make a loud rattling noise (often used as a warning to predators).

So why the morbid collecting habit?

Though they’re much larger than your average house mouse (we hope!), porcupines are rodents, and like mice and rats, their teeth grow continuously throughout their lives. Nocturnal, they often stumble upon animal bones at night, and drag them back to their caves or burrows as extremely grim chew toys.

They’ve also been known to chew on rocks and toughened tree roots to whittle down their teeth…

Every year during the holidays, kitchens fill up with the smells of fresh-baked delicacies. Fruit cakes, challah breads, sugar cookies and more are served up, or packed up and sent off to (lucky) friends and family members.

We would never tell you not to indulge with baskets full of baked goods on chilly winter days…but we would suggest you add a new treat to your baking repertoire: sweet, melt-in-your-mouth fluffy, and with just a hint of spice, vitumbua are a Tanzanian food favorite. Easy to make (and even easier to eat), these muffin-sized morsels make a fantastic dessert at a holiday party, a heartfelt gift for a friend, or even a breakfast-treat for your coworkers! Once you bake up a tray or two of these delicious donut-cakes, we’re sure you’ll understand why…

Vitumbua (Serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

1.5 c. rice flour

2 T. all-purpose flour

1 scant cup coconut milk

.25 c. sugar

1 tsp. ground cardamom

.5 tsp. salt

half package (1 tsp.) active dried yeast

.25 c. shredded coconut (optional)

2-3 T. vegetable oil

Cinnamon and sugar to taste

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Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except oil in a large mixing bowl. Whisk or blend until smooth.

2. Cover bowl with a damp kitchen towel and leave in a warm place for about an hour.

3. When batter is almost done resting, preheat your oven to 400°F.

4. Divide oil between 8-10 cups of a standard-sized muffin tray.

5. Place oiled tray into oven for 2-3 minutes, until hot.

6. Divide batter evenly between oiled cups (filling each cup no more than 2/3 full).

7. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for about 5 minutes .

8. Remove tray from oven and flip the vitumbua (skewers or a spoon can help with this; the bottom of each vitumbua should be browned slightly).

9. Return tray to oven and cook for 5-7 minutes, until vitumbua are cooked through.

In folk tales, they’re depicted as cunning, intelligent pranksters (and on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs and temples, even as gods); jackals have always been known for their ability to adapt themselves to any environment. Even today, as so many wildlife populations suffer from the effects of increased human presence and habitat destruction, jackals continue to thrive.

Part of that success can be attributed to their strong familial bonds. One of the few mammalian species that mate for life, jackals often hunt in pairs, using their speed and dexterity to “tag-team” prey. Parents are able to go off to hunt thanks to help from the kids; older pups often care for their younger offspring (in families where this occurs, significantly more pups survive to adulthood). Of course like all families, just because they pitch in doesn’t mean young jackals always get along; there’s pretty serious sibling rivalry from a young age among black-backed jackals (a prevalent species in Tanzania), and dominance hierarchies are established early, and relatively rigid.

Another reason for their success is their relative intelligence. Closely related to dogs and wolves, black-backed jackals communicate effectively, especially among family members (black-backed jackals will answer their family member’s cries and ignore those of strangers). Different cries convey different information; a fox-like cackle indicates they’re trapped, a woof means they’ve been surprised, and a yell tells family members a predator is near.

But perhaps the single greatest factor in the jackal’s success is simple: it’s just not that picky.

Omnivores, they eat everything from termites, spiders, and scorpions; to rodents and hares; to antelope ranging in size from tiny dik-dik to full-grown impala (though jackals will generally only pursue an injured or otherwise weakened animal of that size). Jackals that live near the coast even eat beached marine mammals, mussels, and fish.

Jackals will eat almost anything, a trait that comes in very handy in the wild.“2012-bb-jackal-1” by Yathin S Krishnappa – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012-bb-jackal-1.jpg#mediaviewer/File:2012-bb-jackal-1.jpg

Of course there are still threats to jackals; in the wild, leopards are a regular antagonist, and for years, farmers have killed animals that harry their livestock, or simply those whose pelts look especially lush (though jackals have been known to even outwit human hunters; when poisoning became popular, they learned to regurgitate the poisoned bait). But through it all, the jackal has continually learned new ways to adapt.

Earlier this week, we posted the first part of an interview with past guest, Dr. Mike Rubenstein. In it, he spoke about his first safari with Thomson, and how meaningful a customized volunteering extension was to him. By the time he got home, he already knew he wanted to return to Tanzania. The rest of our interview with Mike follows:

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Well we know you did go back. How many times have you visited, now?

This March will be my 9th trip to Tanzania, and my 8th working with FAME. Over the years I’ve worked with them to develop a neurology clinic, and a mini-mobile clinic, servicing villages in the Karatu district.

Recently, I’ve managed to work out a program with Penn, the university where I currently teach. Last March I took one of my fellows, Danielle, with me on my trip. She wants to come with me one more time, next September, then she’s going to help me lead trips where we take other fellows over and give them the opportunity to volunteer in a country where there’s truly just so much need.

I never thought I’d end up in global health, but now that I’ve started, there’s so much more I want to do. I want to build a house over there near FAME, where the Penn fellows can stay, and I want to purchase a vehicle for our full-time use. On the weekends we can take it out to some of the parks, so the fellows have a chance to see that side of Tanzania, too. I’ve been driving myself for the last several trips, and last time I got the most remarkable compliment: I saw Leonard heading out from Tarangire as I was driving some folks into the park, and he told his wife that I looked like a “real safari driver!” [Laughs.]

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As a doctor, you have the ability to give back in a very specific way, but what can ordinary travelers do to help Tanzania?

Something I didn’t understand until I got there was just how little infrastructure is in place in some parts of the country. It’s still a place with huge needs, and everything you give helps. I’d really urge people to do what I did: set up a volunteer element alongside their safaris. It’s so simple, and it makes such a huge impact.

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What’s been the most rewarding part of your work in Tanzania?

Being introduced to another culture, another way of life, and the amazingly warm, generous people there. It has truly changed my life in ways I never thought possible.

It may sound a little corny, but the honest truth is that I get so much more out of my time in Tanzania than I can ever give. This defines a lot of who I am now, and it means so much to me. Tanzania has become my second home.

It’s pretty common for us to hear from returning travelers that their safari or Kilimanjaro trek was a truly life-changing experience. But it’s much less common for us to hear about a guest whose experience in Tanzania leads him to change other people’s lives for the better.

That’s what happened when Dr. Mike Rubenstein traveled to Tanzania on safari in 2009. At the time, he thought he was checking another item off his bucket list, but that trip led to so much more…

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Thomson Safaris: How did you first decide to travel to Tanzania?

Mike Rubenstein: Originally, it was for my daughter. She’s always had an interest in wildlife management, and was working at the time as a junior docent at a zoo near our home outside Philadelphia.

At the time, I never thought I’d make it to Africa, but I floated the idea of a safari to my wife, as a kind of “dream trip.” She told me to go for it, and take our son and daughter along (since it’s not on her ‘bucket list,’ she opted to stay home). I did my research, and I made a call to Thomson.

And I’ll never forget that phone call. I was trying to figure out the best trip possible for me and my family, to make it as meaningful and memorable as I could, and Andrew [of the Thomson U.S. team] asked me “well, have you ever thought about volunteering?”

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So you said yes. Where did you volunteer on your trip?

I did. I thought it would be great for me and the kids, and would make the trip more meaningful. After our safari was over, our guide Leonard Temba—who has become a lifelong friend ever since that first safari—took us to Karatu, where we spent three days volunteering at the Ayalabe school.

We helped them paint the walls—it was such a simple thing, but it was really rewarding. Every day, Daniel Tewa, who lived nearby, would come along and tell the rest of the villagers “look, Mike has come all the way from America to volunteer in our school. Let’s chip in, too.” And all of these villagers would come join in. The entire experience was just incredible. Incidentally, that was the start of a lifelong friendship with Daniel, as well.

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So how did you connect with FAME (the Foundation for African Medicine and Education)?

Let me take this opportunity to just say how amazing Leonard was during our trip; the entire time, he did everything he could to make anything we wanted—to see, to do, you name it—happen. Early in the safari, I mentioned that I’d really like to visit a medical facility while I was there. So on the second day of our volunteering, he comes up to us all and says “we’re going to visit Dr. Frank tomorrow.” I assumed he meant a Tanzanian doctor, maybe working out of his house.

The next day, we drive up to FAME’s headquarters. They give us a tour, and right at the end, this western gentleman passes by and the person who’d been showing us around says “this is Dr. Frank.” So we talk for a few minutes, and he asks me “are you a doctor?” I told him I was a neurologist, and he says to me “I was just about to run some cases by my neurology fundi [expert in Swahili]. Would you mind looking them over instead?” And I just said “make my day!” After about an hour looking over cases, Dr. Frank turned to me and said “would you ever consider coming back for a couple months and working with us here?”

I was, and am, still working, so I told him I didn’t think a couple months would be possible, but I told him I could probably swing a couple weeks, and he was very grateful. So after this amazing trip, truly the trip of a lifetime, I came home to my wife, and one of the first things I said to her was “honey, I think I need to go back.”

When we send travelers on safari, we always tell them to pack a broad-brimmed hat and plenty of sunscreen. But how do the animals keep from getting baked to a crisp? If you’re not one of the creatures lucky enough to have a thick coat of hair (or unlucky enough, depending on how high the temperatures soar), how do you keep your skin protected?

If you’re a hippo, the answer is simple: it comes naturally.

Unlike many large mammals, hippos are nearly hairless (and they spend long hours in the sun).

Sunburned?Photo: Thomson Safaris guest, Debbie Stowers

–They’re uniquely adapted to address this, however, since their skin secretes an oily substance which acts as a natural sunscreen. Though this secretion comes out colorless, it quickly turns a brownish-red color in the air, which led ancients to believe the animals were actually sweating blood (don’t worry, two acidic compounds make up the secretion…and neither of them is sweat or blood). The acids in this oily substance also protect hippos in another way: from germs. The secretion simultaneously acts as a natural antibiotic.

The sunscreen keeps harmful rays from damaging hippos’ skin, but the skin itself works pretty hard to protect the hippos from just about everything else. Six inches thick, it’s a natural barrier to most predators. And while packs of lions, hyenas, and crocodiles have been known to attack young hippos, adults—with their massive size, thick skin, and well-known tempers—don’t really have any predator problems.

But you can’t just get magical, self-protecting, wall-thick skin without a trade-off. For the hippos, it’s a dependence on the water where they spend most daylight hours; if they stay out of it for too long, their skin will dry out and crack.

So they’re forced to just hang out in the pool all day, not being bothered by any predators, safely soaking up the rays. Tough life those hippos have. Tough life.

Thomson Safaris

Founded in 1981 and based in Watertown Massachusetts, Thomson Safaris has been handcrafting trips-of-a-lifetime for over 35 years. Tanzania is our only destination, and has truly become our second home. We’re excited to be able to share it with you through stories and features on our blog.